Everything Nac

The Stephen F. Austin State University Wind Ensemble will perform its first concert of the semester when the student ensemble presents “The Music of Viet Cuong” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 9, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

Described as “alluring” and “wildly inventive” by The New York Times, composer Cuong’s music has been performed on six continents, according to Dr. David Campo, director of SFA bands and the Wind Ensemble. Cuong is a visiting composer in the SFA School of Music.

Sō Percussion, Alarm Will Sound, Sandbox Percussion, the PRISM Quartet, JACK Quartet, Gregory Oakes, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony and Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, among others, have performed his works.

His music has been featured in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Aspen Music Festival, New Music Gathering, Boston GuitarFest, International Double Reed Society Conference, U.S. Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium and on American Public Radio’s “Performance Today.”

“He also enjoys composing for the wind ensemble medium, and his works for winds have amassed more than 100 performances by conservatory and university ensembles worldwide,” Campo said.

The Wind Ensemble will perform Cuong’s “Moth” and “Sound and Smoke.”

“Moth” was composed in 2013 and is a study in contrasts. Of the piece, Cuong says, “The moth to the flame narrative is a familiar one. We have all seen moths in the glow of flames or stadium lights. Scientists call this phenomenon “phototaxis,” but I prefer to think of this attraction in much more romantic terms. ‘Moth’ seeks inspiration from the dualities between light and dark, beautiful and grotesque, reality and fantasy, and the ultimate decision to sacrifice sensibility for grace.”

Both the title and concept of “Sound and Smoke” were derived from a line from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s play ‘Faust,’ when Faust equates words to “mere sound and smoke” and declares that “feeling is everything,” according to Cuong.

“Each of the two movements has been given an abstract, parenthetical title to further incorporate Goethe’s conjecture that words will never be able to fully express what feelings and, in this case, music can,” he states of the work. “Therefore, these titles serve merely as starting points for personal interpretation and should not interfere with the music itself.”

The program also features Kevin Puts’ “Millennium Canons,” which was originally written for orchestra and transcribed for band by Mark Spede. “Millennium Canons” was commissioned by the Institute for American Music of the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester and was premiered by the Boston Pops Orchestra in June 2001 at Symphony Hall in Boston, Massachusetts.

Closing the concert will be Charles Ives’ “Country Band March.” Composed in 1903, the work is a parody of the realities of performance by a country band, from the “out of tune” introduction to the pandemonium, which reigns at the close.

“While the main march theme is probably of Ives’ own creation,” Campo said, “the march features an impressive list of quotations that includes ‘Arkansas Traveler,’ ‘Battle Cry of Freedom,’ ‘British Grenadiers,’ ‘The Girl I Left Behind Me,’ ‘London Bridge,’ ‘Yankee Doodle’ and ‘Semper Fidelis,’ to name a few.”

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

Tennessee Hill, a recent Stephen F. Austin State University graduate, was recognized for her poem, “Stripling’s Florist Pharmacy,” in “Best New Poets of 2018,” an annual anthology of 50 poems from emerging writers published by the University of Virginia Press.

The poem was included in Hill’s senior thesis for her Bachelor of Fine Arts in creative writing. It was inspired by the Nacogdoches floral shop she passed daily on her way to class.

Hill, who is “over-the-moon happy” about this recognition, is the third SFA student to be featured in UVP’s anthology. In 2013, alumna Jade Schlich was recognized, and in 2014, Jeremy Windham was featured.

Hill first discovered her love for poetry during her freshman year in Dr. Christine Butterworth-McDermott’s introduction to creative writing class. Butterworth-McDermott, professor of English, recalled that Hill was focused on other writing genres, but she soon embraced the challenge.

“She had a knack for it,” Butterworth-McDermott said, “and she became more and more excited about each poem she wrote. It became her passion, which was thrilling to see.”

Hill said falling in love with poetry was a poetic journey in itself.

“Poetry was kind of my college sweetheart, meaning I instantly fell for it and chased after it wildly for years,” Hill said. “Poetry challenges me to make the most out of a tiny space, to whittle a larger conversation down to the bare bones and still make it pretty.”

Hill’s ability to describe life is something Butterworth-McDermott believes sets her apart from other writers. “She has a very vivid way of describing things, and she uses original imagery and phrasing that make all her poems memorable,” Butterworth-McDermott said.

Butterworth-McDermott also credits Hill’s ability to “devour books” as another reason for the recognition. “That love of constantly taking in new ideas and of not being afraid of hard work are some reasons why I know we’ll be seeing many more professional triumphs from her.”

For more information about SFA’s Department of English and Creative Writing, contact Dr. John A. McDermott, coordinator of creative writing, at mcdermotja@sfasu.edu or (936) 468-2344.

By Emily Brown, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.